Happy Heavenly Birthday Beautiful Eloise

I can remember her knee’s creaking in the early morning hours as she walked down the hallway that opened into our bedroom doorways. I can remember her making the best tuna fish for sandwiches, with the mayonnaise I have gone though life loving, and no onions because I have never liked those. And in case you’re wondering she used Blue Plate and other than her, I am the only one in my family that uses that brand.

I can remember her famous cinnamon toast that she made at least once a week for breakfast. She made up her own – using both cinnamon & sugar – none of that store-bought stuff, and the house would be radiating with that smell of melted-butter and cinnamon.

Her fried chicken was the best around and so was her sweet tea. I can’t remember much of anything that she cooked that I didn’t like, but also, I was there for summer visits so I feel like she cooked all my favorites with intention.

At least one or two nights I would sleep with her and goodness did she snore. I would ask her to wait until I feel asleep and she could never seem to wait. I would nudge her and tell her she had fallen asleep and was snoring, and she would whisper, “No baby, I’m just resting my eyes”.

I can remember her smell, a combination of baby powder and Chantilly perfume. Her hair would smell like Aqua Net hairspray if we were going somewhere special for the day.

I can remember her bright green polyester pants and her old-timey rubber flip flops that sat by the back door, ready for yard-walking. Other than those rubber flip flops - at home, her size 5 teeny feet were barefoot.

I can remember she and I coloring in color books for hours at the time, while she watched her afternoon “stories” – The Edge of Night, A Secret Storm, and The Young and Restless. She also taught me how to cross-stitch one summer as I had grown out of coloring and had moved on to wanting to sew like she did.

But most of all, I can remember her laughter. My grand did we ever laugh a lot. And tickled; we’d both get our “tickle boxes” turned over, as she used to say, and we would laugh so hard our faces would turn red and we could barely breathe. She was in her sixty’s by then, but you would have thought she was a young teenage girl as silly as she let herself get when she was with me.

But I can’t remember her voice. She has been in heaven since 1987, she had her 104^th birthday on April 24^th, and I can’t remember her voice. I try and I try, I close my eyes, and listen hard inside my head/memory, but I can’t hear her. I don’t know how her, of all people who have left, I can’t hear her. 

But I know in my heart she’s still with me, I see signs of her surrounding me all the time. So, I guess until I see her again, the memories of her laughter, and the sightings of butterflies will have to do.

Welcome to Sprummer!

Welcome to Sprummer! We evidently are not going to experience anything close to Spring so we’ll move right onto summer! I mean, technically, we did get like 4 days of Spring. But it was hard to tell since it was sandwiched in between freezing-making-snowman-days and 85-degree-pool-days.

I just would have liked to have had the opportunity to ease into the warmer weather. Folks, it’s April and the high temperatures are already in the 80’s. WHY?!  Ya’ll know I am not a fan of extreme heat, the kind that has you sweating just to walk to the mailbox and back.

And I am sure we won’t have to worry about freezing temperature drop’s before Easter this year – it’s just not happening. So, ladies – you go right on ahead and wear that pretty pastel, sleeveless sundress to the Sunrise Service – and take a hand-fan, cause you’re going to need both in order to be comfortable.

I apologize for kind of being all over the place in this story today, but it kind of relates and it’s bursting inside my head to get out, so I’m just gonna talk about it anyway.

So, speaking of heat – you all already know that we’re doing a small re-model at my house. Adding-on an additional bathroom which will feed right off of our bedroom. The problem is, which it’s not really a problem but it is a bit of a deal – the place where we have picked for the entrance-way from one room to the other, to be cut-out, is right next to my bed, which is literally what is my bedroom window now. And guess what THAT is connected to and why it matters?!

BECAUSE – that is where MY window unit is! YIKES! I know right?! So last weekend, when all of this suddenly occurred to me, I told my husband we have GOT to come up with an alternate plan for that a/c unit. Like quickly, before they get to the part of cutting a door out – because that window unit has GOT to be relocated.

Now years ago, when we first installed that unit, we decided it didn’t look so bad, it was on the back of the house, nobody could really see it and it has served its purpose well. But now, the only option for another window for that unit is on the side of our house – where it’s ugly and most anybody can see it.

Ask me was it a struggle within me to move that unit, ask me did I care one iota who could see it from the road – ASK ME! Cause the answer is, not even a little bit. I cannot sleep without that north pole wind blowing in my bedroom every night – ugly or not.

So even if Sprummer is here – and it is my friends, it really is – I’m going to be alright. We’re moving that window unit this upcoming weekend and whenever it is that they are ready to cut that door – my comfort-ability won’t miss a beat!

I hope you all enjoy your Easter dinners, family and friends. Oh! And remember to where your sun-block, just in case the preacher goes into over-time!

I Just Need A Break

I watch the local news at 6 o’clock and the “big” national news at 6:30 – every single night, without fail. Many days I don’t want to watch. Many days I’m already in such a mood by the time I get home, the last thing I want to see is more things to make me angry or depress me. But still, I watch, because I feel like I need to know what’s going on both locally and in the world.

But I’m telling you folks, sometimes it feels like my days are numbered for even continuing that tradition. Great goodness it gets old listening to all that bad stuff. I guess at least the national news always tries to end on a good note, with a heart-warming storyline about one thing or another. But by then, you’re so worn out from the “real” news, you barely have it in you to care.

So, when I say, that me and Face Book might be about to part ways – there is a reason. I was introduced to Face Book in 2009 – the year my oldest child was leaving for graduate school in Tuscaloosa, Alabama – Roll Tide! I joined so that I would be able to keep up with the going’s on of college life away from home and I thought it would make the departure less sad.

I’ll be truthful and tell you it didn’t help much. I mean, I enjoyed seeing all the pictures and the smiling faces. But it was still five plus hours away instead of fifteen minutes – so tolerable it did make it – less sad – not so much.

And I’m not saying Face Book hasn’t been good to me in other ways; my goodness at all my old, long-time friends I have been able to find! It’s contributed to and help create – many luncheons back home over the years, and allowed me to sit next to, pray for, and laugh with, so many wonderful people I hadn’t seen since my school days.

I can see where they live, their hobbies, their grandchildren and children, and just what life is like for them as we have all obviously grown older in time. I absolutely do enjoy all of that – every single minute of it.

I’ve had more than several girlfriends affected by one cancer or another, and through prayers and daily cheers of support, I’d like to think my internet presence has been helpful in their lives and difficult journeys.

And lastly, I truly did like watching my youngest child grow-up in color – colored pictures that is. Because you know that generation was the first to arrive with cell phones plastered inside their palms and no event went by that wasn’t recorded without a picture and mostly likely, on Face Book.

But it seems to have become nothing more than a political forum these days, and nothing about any of that is usually kind. I won’t even list the potential target subjects – the whole world already knows.

My soul needs kindness and compassion not ugliness. My eyes need pretty flowers and butterflies. My heart needs to see love not hate.  Maybe I won’t leave, but I definitely need a break.

It's About Time!

I have lived in two different homes since I moved to Quincy, Florida in 1998 – both of them were single bath homes.  So, for the last 21 years, somehow, with anywhere from 2-4 people living in either one of those homes, we managed to survive with just one bathroom.

I DO NOT KNOW HOW. Through all the sicknesses, with sometimes multiple people being sick at once – you name it – it’s happened and no one killed anyone.

Now I will admit, when we first moved here, myself and my children lived out in the country and they learned very quickly, as children will do, how “convenient” it is to be a male sometimes and that our rather large yard was a wide-open range available for such things. However, they rarely strayed further than our huge front porch, so you had to announce yourself sometimes before stepping at the front door!

I will also say, when we made the big leap to move back into the city limits of Quincy, rehabilitation back to civilization was a little difficult for my youngest son. He was nine years old and he couldn’t understand why the great outdoors was NOT where he could take care of business anymore.

Well, he is grown and gone now and three became only two, so the one bathroom seemed to become more manageable again. The 30-minute showers, and catching up on his You Tube videos and Snapchats from the comfort of the only seat in the bathroom were also over.  Our one little bathroom was now available almost anytime you needed it once again!

Very recently, we had some life-changes in our home. My younger sister’s husband died very suddenly and quite unexpectedly, and she has some varied health limitations that will not allow her to live alone. For now, and the last month or so, she has been living with us. There are other plans in the works, but for now this is our situation. Needless to say, our little bathroom became very small again.

But guess what is FINALLY going to happen?! That’s right! My home is finally going to give birth to another bathroom! It is going to be huge! It is going to be beautiful! And, it is going to be mostly ALL MINE! HA!

Not really, but it will extend off the back of the house, more specifically our bedroom, so that I can step straight out of my room into my own private bathroom! I am so excited I can hardly stand myself!

We have been picking out bathroom cabinets, sinks, flooring, tile and showers. We’re at kind of a stand -off about the shower. I’m alright with just a shower, but I want a large one, certainly not one of those walk in and stand in one spot, showers. But I’m getting older, and I want a place to sit down, to shave my legs – because I promise you – the days of propping a leg up on a shower wall to shave are about over!

I’ll let you know how it goes. We are literally just getting started so I am SURE there will be many stories that feed off of this adventure!